


I’ve got all these demons (hiding underneath)

by discohargreeves



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse, Angst, Emotional Hurt, Fluff, Hurt No Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves centric, Past Abuse, angsty asf ngl, introspective, set after THAT scene in the diner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26165740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discohargreeves/pseuds/discohargreeves
Summary: klaus trusted dave.what a fool he turned out to be.ora short study on howthatdiner scene affected klaus.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 3
Kudos: 91





	I’ve got all these demons (hiding underneath)

**Author's Note:**

> so i word vommited this in like 15 mins so excuse any mistakes and also the fact it’s not great i just have so many feelings about this scene and how it must’ve affected klaus so enjoy

_trauma._

its a funny thing. how things can affect you so, eat you up from the inside out until the skin on your body feels like it belongs to a stranger. until you’re begging for mercy from the confines of your own mind. 

klaus knew he had trauma. how could he not? he grew up with a father who saw him as an experiment rather than a son, siblings who cared more about becoming _number one_ than saving the life of their slowly fading brother. he lived on the streets, sleeping with strangers for a bed, sucking dicks for some coke. he’d suffered his fair share of abuse, too. he’d been beaten to an inch of his life way more times than he could count for being _too loud_ or _too annoying_ or _too queer._

_too much._

he was always _too much._ too much for his siblings, who gave up on him somewhere along the line of his downward spiral. too much for his one night stands, who kicked him out before the sun rose. too much for anyone.

then he met dave.

dave, who’d been quick to reassure him he wasn’t _too_ anything .dave, who’s heart was pure, good and everything that klaus’ wasn’t. 

klaus recalled a time back in vietnam. he’d saw, briefly, a soldier who looked like a man from his past (or, his future.) a man who’d promised him a bed, food, warmth and a shit load of cocaine and _foolishly_ , klaus had let himself believe. at just 17 years old, he let himself believe. he’d gone back to the mans house with him and let him do whatever he wanted.

he left the next morning with bruises littering his entire form. 

that was the day he stopped believing in love. the day he stopped believing in _people._

dave had touched klaus’ shoulder, trying to snap him out of the memory and klaus flinched on impulse, everything screaming at him to get away, to _escape before he hurts you too._

that night, dave had held klaus close under the shadow of a tree, whispering, _promising_ , that he would never, _ever_ hurt klaus. he told klaus he was perfect in every way, that he would never change a thing about him. he’d told him he was disgusted in anyone who’d ever laid a finger on him in a way that was any less than tender.

then, one afternoon in a diner in 1963, dave broke his promise.

the second klaus felt dave’s fist connect with his face, his heart shattered, his soul emptied and his faith _broke._

oh, if 17 year old klaus could see him now. 

see the way he cradled his bleeding lip as he sat in an alleyway, ben staring at him sympathetically. 

because on that afternoon, in that diner in 1963, klaus truly knew how it felt to stop believing in people. 

and he knew, somewhere in his twisted mind, that _his_ dave in _his_ timeline would never do that. he tried to recall their nights together, in which dave would hold him in such a tender grasp, promising him the world and klaus had _believed_ him. he’d believed that some day, somewhere, somehow they’d be together in peace.

but that’s the funny thing about memory. often, the bad ones take precedent over the good ones. 

it seemed, klaus thought as he wandered into the liquor store, that dave was just another to add to the ever-growing list of liars that would hurt him without a second thought. 

this one just hurt so much more than the others.


End file.
